Real Madrid and Barcelonaai??i??s Halls of Fame stand adorned with a pantheon of legends. For generations, the crowds at both the Santiago Bernabeu and Camp Nou have been witness to some of the most glorious players in the history of the game don their respective shirts. It is a tradition that continues, with star signings Neymar and Gareth Bale adding to an already illustrious starcast at these two most famous Spanish Clubs.
Only few, however, can claim to command the aura and respect, on both sides, that SeAi??orAi??Raul Gonzalez does. The Spanish legend, who came to Real Madrid Castilla with an intriguing back-story of his own, went on to become one of the greatest Madridistas. With this seasonai??i??s first El Clasico set to kick-off in a matter of hours, we turn the clock back fourteen years to another Clasico night at the Camp Nou, where it will be fair to say that a greater part of Raulai??i??s legend was born.
Barcelona 2-2 Real Madrid
Camp Nou, Barcelona
13th October, 1999
On the night of 13th October 1999, yet another breathless Clasico was being played out in Catalonia. The Blaugrana faithful were in full voice deriding their almost ancient, bitter rivals. Not new to this, Real Madrid started well and were rewarded on the 27th minute mark when none other than Raul scored he opener. Barcelona, unwilling to take one down, responded brilliantly when Rivaldo scored the equalizer only two minutes later to a cacophony of noise.
That was, however, nothing compared to the one that rang around the stadium when Luis Figo put Barcelona ahead barely minutes into the second half. He wasnai??i??t as hated then, and they cheered for him with passion. Severed pig-heads will have to wait. Meanwhile yellow cards were flying around, as is pretty much the norm with these games, when the game turned on its head with a red card for Patrick Kluivert, the man who won Ajax their fourth European cup, in the 56th minute.
A breathless second half followed with Real Madridai??i??s one man advantage facing off against the wall of noise from eighty-six thousand Barcelona faithful. They sang the victory chant throughout as Los Blancos were continually frustrated, and further mocked. With a famous victory in sight, that moment came which still endears Raul to the Real Madrid faithful and is perhaps one of the defining images of the rivalry. In the 89th minute, Raul left his markers and latching on to a deft through ball, dinked the ball over on-rushing Ruud Hesp into back of the net. A precious point earned, he motioned the Barcelona faithful into silence, pressing a finger to his lips.
On that eventai??i??s 10th anniversary the Real Madrid website proclaimed it to be a ai???Picture for the Agesai??i?? .Ai??And it is pretty hard to disagree.
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